When the Wall Comes Down
by The Songbirds Are Singing
Summary: Things are changing in the FAYZ. Some for the worse, some for the better, and people have to adapt. Again. Things might be coming to an end for the FAYZ, but that doesn't mean the drama's going to stop. Set after Plague, and AU from there.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I love the GONE books by Michael Grant, so I thought I'd write this. Hope you enjoy, and please review! **

**I don't own GONE. Don't read if you haven't read Plague. xx :) **

* * *

Chapter 1

1) No violence on any kind unless in proven self-defence.

2) No stealing or damaging other people's belongings.

3) No lying to the council or the jury.

4) No damaging council property (e.g. tents, fishing equipment), or using it without permission of the council, or your employer of the day.

5) No bothering the healer unless in an emergency.

6) No anti-freak/normal behaviour.

7) No taking more than your share of food or water.

8) No wasting resources.

9) Curfew is ten pm, and cannot be broken unless in an emergency.

10) Anyone who wishes to leave to join Caine's colony may do so, however all rotas, systems and organisation will be altered, so they might not be allowed back.

11) Everyone must do the jobs they are assigned, no complaining, unless they have a proven, official reason for absence (e.g. illness.).

12) All children below four are the responsibility of the day care, and must remain with Brother John or a member of his staff at all times.

13) Children below the age of eight must attend an hour of schooling a day, unless they have a proven, official reason of absence (e.g. illness).

14) Everyone over the age of eight is required to do jury duty, and can be called up at any time, for any case, unless they have a proven, official reason of absence (e.g. illness).

15) Failure to comply with these rules will result in a prison sentence, or (in serious cases) exile from the camp.

16) If two people enter into a relationship, they are forbidden from sharing a tent, and from going past second base. This alone will result in a week of imprisonment.

17) Anyone who wishes for a clean slate after aggressive or bad behaviour that occurred prior to the forming of the Community shall be given it, but if they break a law, their previous record is liable to be held against them for means of behavioural explanation and jury decisions.

18) All the members of the council reserve the right to arrest any member of the Community, if there are no Guards present, provided they have reason and proof.

19) No consumption of drugs or alcohol, unless for medical purpose (e.g. pain relief).

* * *

Sam stood with his back to the glittering lake, reading over the somehow immaculate list of laws that Astrid and Edilio had drawn up in the former's neat script. He sighed, smirking slightly as he read number 15. The 'prison' was a tent guarded 24/7 (when occupied) by two Guards, a few meters away from the tree with the rules. But it was empty at the moment: the last offender had left the previous day, after having served his two day sentence for skipping work.

Sam wandered past the tree the list was nailed to, officially entering the 'Town Square' of the camp. There was a crude, yet surprisingly well-built table in the middle of a small marquee/large tent called the Council Room, which was surrounded by a combination of fold-out chairs and stools made by the Carpenters, and covered in a blue plastic tarpaulin. Underneath it were all the records, rotas and log books that Albert used for the running of the council and the Community. A bookshelf in the corner was crammed with 'DIY for Dummies' and the like, and all the pregnency and birthing books that Astrid and Diana poured over together.

On one side of the Council Room was the medical tent, on the other the day care and school area, and behind that stretched several rows of three to nine man tents, scavenged by the Community's occupants and bribed off Caine's followers by Albert. Behind all the tents was a space for bonfires where Community meetings and trails were held, and after that stretched several miles of forest, the first line of trees marking the boundary of the Community's camp. A slit trench had been dug a quarter of a mile away down the way, upstream of the place where they got their drinking water.

A couple of Guards approached the Council Room that Sam had walked into, both raising a hand in greeting, who returned the gesture as they walked up to him, choosing to look past the guns both of them were clutching. Most people in the Community didn't carry weapons; there was no rule against it, but everyone felt so much safer than they had done during the Famine (as the inhabitants of the FAYZ had named the desperate time of constant hunger before Albert had pulled them together), they this precarious balance of life no longer warranted protection in their books. Not day-to-day within the camp, anyway.

However, each of the ten-strong team of Guards that Edilio and Ellen ran had their own gun (the EED, Edilio and Ellen Defence- as named by Howard, of course), and were prepared to defend the relative peace of the Community at a moment's notice. The Guards had a dress code of essentially anything they could find that was dark coloured, and every one of them had two tattoos of the defence team logo- two E's back to back, followed by a D, in a clear circle. They weren't actual tattoos, they were drawn on with permanent marker, but it stood out on the backs of their hands and acted as an identification system. The Guards weren't just a police force, they acted as the fire and general emergency services as well; although Dhara ran the hospital.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked as they stood in front of him, shifting from foot to foot. They didn't just look obviously guilty about something, they looked sad. Sam recognised one of them as Virtue, Sanjit's brother, and noticed his eyes were red, as his he had been crying.

"Albert ordered us to round up the council." Sarah, the other person said. "There's been an accident."

"What sort of accident?" Sam said suspiciously, an all-too familiar feeling of dread settling into the pit of his stomach.

"I think it would be best if you came and saw for yourself." Virtue said hoarsely, and Sam nodded. If whatever it was had upset Virtue, a member of one of the strongest families he knew, then it must be bad.

* * *

Sam followed the pair as they hurried through the camp, which was strangely devoid of people. Was Sam the last to know about this incident? It wouldn't be the first time: he had been the last to know when Diana's baby kicked, the last to know about almost every Council meeting. Maybe people were forgetting him?

As soon as Sam thought that, he was immediately disgusted with himself. Wasn't that what he had wanted from day one? To be able to live a quiet life, not to always be asked for about every tiny little thing, to be expected to always be strong and play the hero? Shaking his head, Sam decided to leave the thought for later, when he was lying awake in the tent he share with Edilio, Toto, Quinn and Sanjit, desperately trying to evade the nightmares that still plagued him every night.

The group of Sam and the soldiers walked briskly through the rows and rows of tents to the back row, by the trees, and once they had reached the outskirts of the Camp, Sam saw the large group of people. They were spilling out around the furthest few tents, the area the EED occupied, but Sam could tell that the cluster of people- which he realised was probably the entirety of the Community, except for the Prees- that they spilled a long way into the trees.

One glance told Sam that some of them were crying. Some looked scared, but mostly they were just angry. Angry that things looked like they were about to revert back to the old ways, when they had been so good for such a relatively long time. Because once everyone had cleared a path for Sam and the Guards who had led him there, he saw a small shape sprawled on the floor, the clothes and skin on its back ripped and bloody from chilling familiar whip marks.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"We are gathered here today" began Sanjit in his smooth, calm voice, "to celebrate and commemorate the life of Maxie Smith."

_After Sam had realised what he was seeing lying amongst the trees, he had promptly turned and marched away, people parting for him like the Red Sea. Once he was out of sight and earshot of everybody, he collapsed onto the ground and puked his guts out all over the dried leaves. _

"Maxie was nine years old, and showed great promise at being one of our most talented Fishermen. He had no family in the FAYZ, but had a large array of friends, who will miss him more than those of us who did not know him. But we regret his death no less." The Carpenters began to lower the small wooden box they had made into a hole in the ground, marking the first grave of the Community.

_Wiping his mouth, he had clambered shakily to his feet, half-there, and half-back in the nuclear power station, Drake Merwin ripping the skin clear off his body with his slimy whip-arm.  
_

"We had hoped that in forming the Community, no more would have to die in this strange world, but the obvious return of Drake Merwin means we must all be on our guard. I myself am lucky enough to have proper family here with me, but whether you do or not, we must be there for each other. We have no parents, no teachers, no older siblings, no grandparents. We only have each other."

_He'd walked back to the scene, to find Albert gently turning the boy onto his back, a sombre look on his face. Sam knew the boy would only be able to stand anything touching his back if he couldn't feel pain anymore. _

"Maxie: we will miss you, we love you. Rest in peace."

_If he was dead._

Sanjit finished, bowing his head for a minute, then walked away, followed by the Council and the rest of the Community, making a silent procession to the Community area, where a small meal had been laid out. Even Albert had agreed that it was the least they could do.

It was a sombre meal, with barely anyone, not even the Prees, looking happy. The few people who had known Maxie well, his tent-mates and fellow Fishermen, sat in a small group at the fringe of the gathering, by the trees. Like they wanted to stay close to him.

Only the Guards were missing: ever since Maxie was found, Edilio and Ellen had had them on constant patrol around the perimeter of the Camp, adding to Brianna and Taylor, who were no longer taking shifts. It was a bad move; at some point, they were all going to be too exhausted to continue the watch, but everyone was just _so_ scared of Drake's return.

Sam hadn't slept in two days, and every time he heard a noise, he jumped. It was the same for anyone else who had faced Drake's evil arm. They could be seen sitting in huddles and several had shut themselves in their tents, refusing to go to work. For once, nobody stopped them from not going to work.

Sam swallowed his piece of fish, and made his way across to several Council members who looked like they were having a serious conversation.

"Hi, Sam." Dekka greeted him, moving over on the rock she was sitting on so he could sit down too.

"Hi." He replied quietly, taking the offered space and leaning slightly against Dekka's side. It wasn't a romantic gesture, but the two were practically brother and sister, having gone through so much together. Aside from Edilio, there was no one Sam trusted more. "What're we talking about?" Sam asked the group in general, and Albert bit his lip.

"I was saying that I think we should inform the inhabitants of Perdido Beach of the recent developments." The head of the Council said and Sam felt his eyes widen. 'Informing the inhabitants of Perdido Beach' meant going there. And seeing Caine. Seeing the graves in the square again, and the horrible yet wonderful idea that there wouldn't have been any more added. That Caine would have done a better job than Sam had.

"When?" Sam asked through gritted teeth, earning him a glance from Astrid. It was almost sympathetic, but he knew better than to read further into it than that. She had tried running Perdido Beach as well, so knew how hard it was. She would only be thinking the same thing as he had been.

"As soon as possible." Albert replied, nodding slightly in acknowledgement of Sam's half-agreement with the idea. As much as he was the one who definitely controlled the Community- and in fact, the Fayz itself, as he ran the food and water for Perdido Beach as well-, Albert knew that Sam was the one who everybody trusted, who they turned to in a crisis. If Drake attacked, Albert knew that no one would be listening to his rotas anymore. They would look to Sam.

Sam knew he was still the hero who stopped the bus from driving off the cliff. Only sometimes, he wished he'd just let it plunge to the ground. Then no one would have died on his account: there would have been less people killed on the bus than had been under his poor management of Perdido Beach, in particular during the Famine.

"Who are you sending?" Sam asked, praying his name wouldn't be said. Well, not praying; he had about as much faith in God as he did in Maxie coming back to life. Less even, seeing as that had already happened to Brittany, Drake's religion-obsessed, crazy other half. Albert seemed to realise that, and hesitated before replying.

"Taylor and Ellen, along with a couple of soldiers. It might be a good idea if Dekka went, too, to officialise the party somewhat." Albert said, and Ellen and Dekka looked at him.

"Hey, I'm on the council, I'm every bit as official as Dekka." Ellen said, and Dekka nodded in agreement. Albert cleared his throat slightly awkwardly. He wasn't good with not offending people.

"You may be here, but Caine is a freak, so he will recognise Dekka as having more power than you because she is one also." He said bluntly. "Also, everyone knows she's Sam's vice president, so she wouldn't tell Perdido Beach anything Sammy here doesn't want people to know."

"I am not Sam's pet." Dekka growled, and Albert actually leaned away from her direction slightly, raising his hands in his defence.

"I never said you were." He said, unable to hide the slightly panicked undertone in his voice. Dekka was scary at the best of times: if you pissed her off, she might fling you against a rock. Or that was what she would have most people believe.

"Stop this, you three." Astrid said, waving her hands in between Dekka, Ellen and Albert: the former two who were glaring angrily at the boy.

"Shut up, Astrid." Ellen muttered, but sat back. If nothing else, Astrid was good at settling arguments.

"So it's settled." Albert said, straightening his somehow-perfect collar. "Taylor will bounce to Perdido Beach after Dekka and Ellen have walked there tomorrow, and inform Caine of Drake's return. We'll send several guards to protect them as they go." Albert stood up, effectively ending the impromptu meeting, refusing to address the fact that if Drake found the girls on their way to town, no number of guns and basically-trained eleven year olds would be able to stop him from killing them.

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**A/N: Thanks for reading, and please review! xx :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sooo it's been a while. Sorry. I'm really just quite rubbish at updating. Thank you to everyone who review; keep 'em coming! I love all of you with all my heart. I don't actually have multiple hearts; I'm not a Time Lord (if I was, I would grab a TARDIS, and go back in time to update sooner). Enjoy! Xx :)**

* * *

The FAYZ was changing. That much Sam knew. It wasn't just the fact that they had been getting variations in the temperature (only slight, but enough to be noticeable to those who were looking, which the Council did, because that was their job), but the atmosphere of the people was changing. It had started before Drake had made himself known again- it wasn't anything to do with him. It was a positive change, in some ways, and in other ways it was kind of sad: people were getting used to the FAYZ, they were adapting. But not in an 'I have to carry a weapon so nobody bludgeons me to death in the street' way, but more in the coming up with ambitions, and realising that this was their life now way. Kids had started saying what they wanted to be when they grew up: a fisherman, or a carpenter, or in the Council.

Life was the FAYZ: it was no longer an interruption or passing circumstance. People were seeing it as their future now. No one had Stepped Out, even though a couple of people had had the opportunity to, because the Outside, as whatever it was that lay beyond the FAYZ wall had come to be known as, was unknown. It could be that Astrid's original theory was correct, that they were in their own universe now, so Stepping Out would kill you. Or it could be that it was the old world. But the unknown was the greatest fear, and people weren't ready to face up to it.

So instead, they just accepted the situation, finally, and moved on, trying to make the best of it and realising that they didn't have a choice. And it made Sam so, so sad.

* * *

Ellen wanted to tell Dekka to keep up. But nobody told Dekka to do anything if they had any sense, and besides, she had massive respect for the girl, and also tended to have the odd feeling that she had once gotten when she was in a lift at a hotel with Angelina Jolie. An air of mystery and celebrity, although if she said that to Dekka, she would probably just laugh. She was really quite modest. On the other hand, if she said it someone like the Breeze, she'd probably take it upon herself to start the FAYZ's very own version of Hollywood.

"Shall we take a break now?" Ellen suggested, realising that she was getting quite tired. Ever since they had been starving for weeks, nobody in the FAYZ thought to complain about usual levels of pain or tiredness, but Ellen hadn't slept for twenty-four hours, so she was definitely ready for a break. Sometimes Ellen worried for her health: she slept and ate less than most of the people she knew, because she was willing to give her share of some food to her comrades, to keep the younger ones going when they wanted to quit working, and she worked double shifts most days, as well as being on the council. Ellen thought that sometimes people forgot that people who were ten were not in fact middle-aged, as they had begun to be seen as. Back in the old days, they were still in Elementary school, but here they were, fishing, filtering water, building furniture and running a small version of the armed forces. It hurt to think that everyone's innocence had been stolen away from them because of one child who didn't know what he was doing.

Because everyone knew now, everyone knew that it was Little Pete who had started the FAYZ. At first, they had resented him, had said horrible things about the boy. Then they moved onto Astrid, and Sam, because they had kept this from them, because they should have been able to fix it. And then…everyone sort of stopped caring. They accepted that they were here now, and there was nothing they could do to change that. The famine, Drake, the bugs, Little Pete: all of that became history. And there was no point in worrying about the past: you had to look to the future.

"Sure." Dekka agreed, wandering over to the side of the road to sit down on a rock. The two soldiers who had been silently accompanying them sat in the grassy verge at the side of the track, under the shade of some trees. Dekka pulled something out of one of her heavy combat boots and put it down beside her, and Ellen saw with a start that it was a dagger. She wasn't surprised that Dekka had a weapon; no, she was surprised at the quality of it. Everyone else had weapons they had either made, or battered ones that no one wanted when the weapons were split between the Community and Perdido Beach and stashed away in armoires. Only the EED were meant to carry proper weapons.

"Where did you get that?" Ellen asked in a suspicious tone, as she pulled out her water bottle. She only had half a bottle, because she'd given some to one of the kids who'd been on night duty with her, to help him stay awake. Dekka looked at her steadily before replying, as if trying to gauge whether she could trust her or not. Evidently, she decided she could because she said "I've always had it, ever since before the FAYZ."

Ellen raised an eyebrow. "You used to carry a knife around with you when you were at Coates?" She asked incredulously. Dekka shrugged.

"It wasn't that uncommon." She said. "They never searched the rooms, so kids had all sorts stashed away. A small dagger I inherited from my grandfather was the least of the contraband items there." Slightly shocked at that, Ellen sat down on the ground near Dekka's rock, facing the way they had come. They were downhill from the Community, and she could see a plume of smoke from where someone was obviously cooking something.

"Where's your water?" Dekka asked.

"Right here." Ellen waved the bottle, although she knew that wasn't what Dekka meant. She sighed and then shrugged. "Some people need things more than I do. " She reasoned, and Dekka nodded thoughtfully.

"That's true, but if you give too much away and end up getting sick, that's not going to help anyone." She had a point, and Ellen knew it.

"Come on, let's keep moving." She said after a pause, and Dekka nodded, rising from the rock and walking onwards at a steady pace; one that she had perfected that meant she could walk for a long time without a break. The soldiers copied her, marching along as if they were really a part of a proper army, their weapons held close against them, lest the need to be drawn quickly during a fight.

* * *

Several hours later, judging by the position of the sun (most watches had stopped working and those that hadn't were kept in the Council tent), the group of four reached the outskirts of Perdido Beach. As far as they could see, no one was living in any of the houses on the edges of the town; it seemed that the inhabitants had all migrated to the town centre. Safety in numbers, Dekka presumed, although she also thought about the obvious flaw in that philosophy: everyone being grouped together only made it easier to kill everyone. Wondering when she'd started thinking like a military strategist, Dekka picked up her pace slightly. There was something about the almost deserted town that gave her the creeps, and while she would never dream of admitting it, it didn't mean she wanted them to stay there any longer than they had to.

After about five minutes of passing by empty places that did nothing except freak them out and bring back bad memories, they finally reached houses that looked like they were lived in. There was no electricity, so people had started putting candles around- which was a horrible risk of fire, Ellen noted. It was day, so they weren't burning, but they sat on window sills; usually right next to curtains and blinds. Really, it was a miracle that the whole place hadn't burnt down yet.

"Hey!" They all started slightly at the yell, their eyes darting around to attempt to find the source of the sound. Eventually, their eyes fixed on a small boy, probably no older than four or five, crouching in the dirt behind a tree in someone's front yard. The boy looked almost savage: he wore nothing but a filthy pair of jeans and a baseball cap, and there was a wild look in his eyes that suggested that he'd seen things that no young child ever should. Of course he had. They all had. The FAYZ cared nothing for childhood innocence.

"Who're you?" Ellen asked, slowly moving forwards with her arms outstretched to the sides, in an attempt not to spook the boy. The boy considered her for a moment then barked out an answer.

"Stevie." His voice was hoarse and weak. His stomach bulged out, his gums were bright red and his hair was brittle and wispy under the cap. Dekka knew malnutrition when she saw it, and knew that this boy needed vitamins and minerals pumped through him in an IV drip, and some of those high protein bars that they charities fed to starving children in Africa. But he wouldn't get them, and would probably be dead within a week.

"Heya, Stevie." Ellen said with a smile. "We're from the Community up by the lakes; we're here to see Caine. We have something to tell him."

"King Caine don't see people." Stevie said, puffing up slightly with an air of importance.

"I'm pretty sure he'll see us, once he sees who we are." Ellen said confidently, not about to be intimidated by a kid.

"Who are you, then?" Stevie asked.

"I'm Ellen, and that's Rosa, Alan and Dekka." Ellen answered, pointing to herself, the soldiers and Dekka in turn. Stevie snorted.

"That's a stupid name." He said to Dekka, who looked irritated.

"So's Stevie." She replied, earning her an exasperated look from Ellen. "What are you, anyway, three?"

"I'm four!" Stevie said indignantly. Ellen rolled her eyes.

"Dekka, leave it." She said with a sigh. "Stevie, can you take us to Caine, please?"

"I know where he is." He said with an eager nod. "But I swear he ain't gonna see ya."

"We'll see." Ellen said. Stevie shrugged, then set off down the road into town, limping slightly and going very slowly. It broke Ellen's heart to see this little boy having been so poorly looked after: what was Caine doing? Clearly they didn't have enough food here. Nothing was said the whole way to the Plaza, with Stevie seeming exhausted after just a couple of blocks. Eventually Ellen wordlessly lifted him up, placing him on her hip and allowing him to point the way, even though she knew full well where they were going. She just couldn't leave him: it felt like he was her responsibility now.

* * *

As they neared the Plaza, they saw more people: wide, staring eyes set in hollow cheeks that screamed silently for help that would never come. It was shocking, because the Community was doing relatively well: they were self-sufficient, they had just about enough food and water for everyone, and they'd reached the right balance of consumption in the local area that they probably wouldn't run out. But here were more people, people the members of the Community had pushed to the fringes of their minds, who were starving, were dehydrated, were living in squalor. It reminded Ellen of the times of the Famine, and she supressed a shudder at the thought that these people were going through that again.

When they reached the Plaza- having collected quite a crowd of those who weren't too weak to move-, the four Community delegates were greeted by a horrible sight. Next to all the carefully, respectfully dug graves of the times before the Community, were clumsy, messy heaps of earth, numbering in the teens: graves. More graves meant more dead. Something caught Ellen's attention, and she looked at the steps of the Town Hall to see that Taylor was there, her head held in her hands and her shoulders hunched. She'd clearly seen the graves.

Carefully setting Stevie down on the grass, Ellen made her way over to Taylor, Dekka and the soldiers in her wake.

"Hey." She said, sitting down next to her. "You've seen them, then, I take it?" She waved a hand in the direction of the graves. Taylor nodded sombrely.

"Have you seen the people?" She asked quietly, her voice hoarse. It sounded a bit like she'd been crying, but Ellen didn't mention it.

"Yeah." She said. "I'm going to mention it to Caine, it's outrageous."

"Ok." Taylor said. "He's in there." She gestured to the Town Hall.

"I know." Ellen replied. "You coming?" Taylor hesitated, but then shook her head.

"I'll stay here with Rosa. Take Dekka and Alan in with you." She decided and Ellen shrugged.

"Ok." She stood up, gesturing for the other two to follow her. But then she paused, and turned back to Taylor. "That kid over there." She pointed at where Stevie was sleeping peacefully in the grass a few feet away. "Keep an eye on him, yeah?" Taylor looked confused, but nodded.

"Sure. You picked up a stray?" She asked, and Ellen sighed.

"Stupid, I know. Like I need more responsibility." Taylor smiled slightly at that, then turned away. Ellen sighed, looking up at the battered, half torn off door of the Town Hall and mentally preparing herself. She glanced at the other two and saw that they were doing much the same thing. She was about to go in there and yell and one of the people she hated the most in the world- by which she meant the FAYZ, because that was their whole world now- and then tell him that the person- or rather, monster- that they all feared the very most was back. And he was looking for blood.

* * *

**A/N: Bit of a cliff hanger there, and a lovely sprinking of malnutrition and all-round depressing stuff. Lovely. Anyway, if you enjoyed this, please tell me so! Or even if you didn't: I love constructive criticism, it makes me work harder to improve. Xx :)**


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